411 Top 100 Albums: 20 to 11
Posted by Tim O'Sullivan on 09.10.2007
Our penultimate column on this mega, mega, mega feature is upon us. Pumped? Oh, you should be!
Good people .and even you bad eggs out there ..we are nearly at the summit of this awesome, amazing feature. Twenty more discs to reel off, with ten out of the park by the end of today:
Week Nine shall begin in 3 ..2 ..1 .
PART NINE
U2 - The Joshua Tree
CHART HISTORY:
Album:
Billboard 200: #1 Contemporary Christian: #36
European Hot 100: #1
Singles:
"I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" Billboard Hot 100: #1 Mainstream Rock: #2 Adult Contemporary: #16
"In God's Country" Billboard Hot 100: #44 Mainstream Rock: #6
"With Or Without You" Billboard Hot 100: #1 Adult Contemporary: #23 "Where The Streets Have No Name" Billboard Hot 100: #13
O'Sullivan: I've never been a giant U2 fan. I've been a relatively slim U2 fan, though, and despite it being such a safe, obvious statement, I do believe this album to be their finest hour. I like pretty much the entire set, but it's the opening that just slays me. For me, its definitely one of the best starts to any album ever. Those first three tracks are just stunning.
Chamberlain: Add me to the long list of people who call this their favorite U2 album.... by a country mile. There are so many songs off this record that are unforgettable and sound just as good today as they ever have. "Where The Streets Have No Name" is one of my favorite songs from any band, ever. "Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For", talk about a timeless song. You'll be able to play that one fifty years from now and the sound and message will still resonate.
Mitch Michaels: Of all the great U2 records, Joshua Tree will always stand as their masterpiece, a combination of the heavy rock of War and the studio experimentation of The Unforgettable Fire. From the opening notes of "Where The Streets Have No Name", you know you're getting something epic and unforgettable, and U2 delivers on that promise throughout the record. Joshua Tree is a dark message of hope set to the backdrop of one of the greatest rock bands of all time. It's amazing.
Johnny Cash - Live At Folsom Prison
CHART HISTORY:
Album:
Pop: #13
Country: #1
Singles:
"Folsom Prison Blues" Pop: #32 Country: #1
Melchor: I still have yet to find a better live album to this day. And who knew prisoners were so sensitive? Cash had no qualms about walking into a maximum security facility to play, because he knew he was in front of an audience that could truly appreciate his minimalist slices of America, good, bad, or ugly. They ate it up, which fed him with the energy to cut a classic on the spot.
Mitch Michaels: "Mr. Cash, try to refrain from performing any tunes that remind the inmates that they're in prison." "You think they forgot?" A country album recorded at a prison? What could be more appropriate? Cash will be remembered as a terrific songwriter and for his rich, authoritive baritone, but At Folsom is a reminder that he was also a consummate performer. Listen to how he holds this audience of criminals and hard-luck cases in his hand. Prison songs like "25 Minutes To Go" and "The Wall" are perfect selections (and well received), while the bigger hits ("Folsom Prison Blues", "Jackson", "I Still Miss Someone") sizzle. No live album will ever capture the true spirit of the artist like this one did.
Marvin Gaye - What's Going On
CHART HISTORY:
Album:
Pop: #6
Black: #1
Singles:
"Inner City Blues (Makes Me Wanna Holler)" Pop: #9 Black: #1
"What's Going On" Pop: #2 Black: #1
"Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" Pop: #4 Black: #1
Phil Watts, Jr.: One of the great things about Marvin was the fact that he was able to make incredible music even during the most tumultuous periods of his life (the death of Tammi Terrell took a lot out of him). And to think, this album almost got SHELVED because Motown head honcho Berry Gordy didn't think it was "commercial enough". This album forced Gordy to let his artists take more chances in their music.
O'Sullivan: Aah, Marvin. You were a bit good weren't you? So many things to love about this set. The best opening track ever, delivered by Marvin's ever-silky vocals carved out of gold. Just stunning stuff. After the title track is in the history books, it would be easy to think that the album has peaked, but we are treated to stuff like "God is Love", "Right On" and the amazing, "Inner City Blues" to help make it one of the greatest ever.
David Bowie - The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders From Mars
CHART HISTORY:
Album:
Pop: #75
Singles:
"Starman" Pop: #65
Melchor: What is this, a concept album? A movie soundtrack? And what's with that goddamn make-up? Bowie raised some eyebrows in cementing his reputation as The Chameleon, but the music was so good that people stopped noticing all the weird shit. Aside from his makeup and characters, Bowie took hard and glam rock and fused them with excellent lyrical content to pave his way to being a legend.
Coy: I'm not sure if I can say anything more effective other than the fact that this one affected and still affects me to my core, outward. Yes, here is yet another listening journey, each track perfectly aligned. Fellow aliens out there can certainly understand where I'm coming from, because that's the other incredible aspect of it. It's about us we stranded aliens trying to make art out of what surrounds us on this confusing third planet from the sun. From the celebratory apocalyptic opener, "Five Years," to the savior visitor of "Starman," and then "wham-bam thank you, ma'am!" This is tops on my list.
The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Are You Experienced
CHART HISTORY:
Album:
Pop: #5
Black: #10
Singles:
"Purple Haze" Pop: #65
"Foxey Lady" Pop: #67
Rutherford: I have strong opinions about Hendrix the guitar player that have been discussed before to interesting effect but one thing I have always stated, the "musical composer" Jimi Hendrix was almost without peer creating some of the best blues and pop music you have heard in any generation. This album was ground zero and the musical rapport he built with engineer Eddie Kramer who helped him create the sounds Hendrix could only imagine and producer Chas Chandler knowing just what songs and riffs to work on and what to leave alone is almost without peer. He'd write better songs in the future and create more intricate soundscapes as well but you can almost never beat the original and this is no exception.
Melchor: The record that would turn guitar playing on its ear for good. Almost every standard is here - "Purple Haze", "Foxy Lady", "The Wind Cries Mary", "Manic Depression", the list goes on and on. Just to amaze even more than inventing a new style of guitar playing should, the songs are well-written and more than excuses for Hendrix to wank off on his axe. When he does, though, the magic can still be felt decades later.
Mitch Michaels: Jimi Hendrix' time in the spotlight was tragically short, but in those moments he managed to put his stamp on several different genres of music and seal his legacy as one of the world's greatest studio guitarists. Are You Experienced? was his band's first studio album and it still stands as the best psychedelic rock record of all time. The songs are trippy but still amazingly accessible, a quality proven by the fact that it yielded three UK Top 10 singles ("Purple Haze", "Hey Joe" and "The Wind Cries Mary"). Hell, even the Library Of Congress agrees with this one, as it was voted into the National Recording Registry back in 2005.
Oasis - (What's The Story) Morning Glory?
CHART HISTORY:
Album:
Billboard 200: #4
European Hot 100: #1
Singles:
"Wonderwall" Billboard Hot 100: #8 Modern Rock: #1 Mainstream Rock: #9 Adult Top 40: #30 Hot Dance Music: #17 Top 40 Mainstream: #10 Hot Digital: #70
"Don't Look Back In Anger" Billboard Hot 100: #55 Modern Rock: #10 Top 40 Mainstream: #33
"Champagne Supernova" Modern Rock: #1 Mainstream Rock: #8 Adult Top 40: #33 Top 40 Mainstream: #10
"Morning Glory" Modern Rock: #24
Munson: Arguably their best record (while some remain partial to Definitely, Maybe), Morning Glory is these Manchester hooligans' most cohesive album. "Wonderwall" and "Don't Look Back In Anger" became popular sing-a-long anthems on the radio, MTV, and their live concerts and "Champagne Supernova", while not released as a proper single in the UK, became a smash hit in America with its bombastic, nonsensical verse/chorus, trippy music video, and additional guitar riffing from The Jam's Paul Weller. Less snottier and rockier than Definitely Maybe, Morning Glory is the Gallagher brothers at their finest.
Mitch Michaels: Just as the rock world was reeling from the death of grunge, Oasis came from across the pond and kicked our fucking teeth in. Morning Glory is the rock album of the 90's, period. It's brash, arrogant and it totally rocks. The songs are so well put together it's hard to believe this is just the Gallagher brothers' second stab at recording. After grunge downplayed the rock 'n' roll lifestyle, Oasis returned to embrace it, putting out songs that sounded like The Beatles soaked in whiskey and acting like giant assholes. There's not a bad track here.
Rutherford: Before they became a joke they really were a great band. Combining the best elements of classic British rock/pop and glam and gave it a modern day cynical sneer thanks to the snotty and willfully defiant vocals of Liam Gallagher. While the production is a little shitty these days the songs still stand up with a great mix of rock (the title track, Roll With It), dandy pop (She's Electric), moody epics (Champagne Supernova) and naked confession (Wonderwall) they covered all bases and then some. While most of their other albums are only worth a moment of your time, this is worth heavy time investment and repeated listens.
Bob Dylan - Blonde On Blonde
CHART HISTORY:
Album:
Pop: #9
Singles:
"Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" Pop: #2
"I Want You" Pop: #20
"Just Like A Woman" Pop: #33
"Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat" Pop: #81
Helm: It's hard to really define just how good Bob Dylan's Blonde On Blonde is or even why it is good but it is safe to say that it is a truly great album. Spanning a multitude of sounds and emotions yet still rooted with that classic Dylan style and wordplay Blonde On Blonde doesn't fall victim in its double-album excess; on the contrary, this masterwork revels in it. With this album, Dylan crafts epic tales of love and life and everything in between and does it, arguably, better than anyone. While the seventy-plus-minute length may seem ponderous, the quality of the album makes this an engaging listen throughout its expanse, an amazing feat, but par for the course for Bob Dylan.
Mitch Michaels:Blonde On Blonde is the album that gave Bob Dylan his legendary reputation. With the initial shock of Dylan going electric out of the way, Dylan assembled his greatest backing band (who would later become THE Band) and proceeded to create the quintessential folk rock record. The writing is trippy, funny and confusing, masking a message of...well, whatever the hell Dylan is trying to say. The rock songs rock ("Rainy Day Women", "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat") and the ballads range from sweet ("Just Like A Woman") to strangely chilling ("Visions Of Johanna"). If you already own Dylan's Greatest Hits albums, this is the natural next step.
Rutherford: This is the apex of "Bob's gone electric" era Dylan. A sprawling double album with many high points (check out Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands which takes up the complete forth side of the LP release) and the last of the trio of albums that took him into a new era, it distilled everything that was good about his music at this time and made it shine. Between this album and the next he suffered a bad motorcycle crash that changed his outlook on the music he made but we have Blonde on Blonde as an artifact of the time that is timeless in itself.
Nirvana - MTV Unplugged In New York
CHART HISTORY:
Album:
Billboard 200: #1
Singles:
"The Man Who Sold The World" Modern Rock: #6 Mainstream Rock: #12
"Lake Of Fire" Mainstream Rock: #22
Helm: While, in my opinion, there may be better live albums The Who's Live At Leeds and Cheap Trick's At Budokan come to mind there isn't a more emotional and heart-wrenching live album ever recorded. As a touching swan song to Nirvana's legacy, MTV Unplugged In New York reigns as evidence that there was more substance to the near-legendary band than their style would allow. Showing influences and inspirations both well known and obscure from David Bowie to the Meat Puppets to Leadbelly MTV Unplugged In New York stands as the high point of the "Unplugged" series and, perhaps, even the high point of Nirvana . . . even though it closely followed their lowest point of all.
Berry: Nirvana's most affecting work is also my all-time favorite live album. Let's not be foolish: Nirvana was Kurt Cobain. Nowhere are his coarse, pained vocals better exhibited than during this "Unplugged" performance. Cobain & company deliver respectful interpretations of songs from such random sources as a virtually unknown lo-fi act from Scotland called The Vaselines ("Jesus Don't Want Me For A Sunbeam"), David Bowie ("The Man Who Sold the World"), hardcore bluesman Leadbelly ("Where Did You Sleep Last Night?), and several tracks accompanied by the country-fried Meat Puppets ("Plateau", "Oh, Me", and "Lake of Fire"). However, it's on the Nirvana originals where the goosebumps really set in, especially on the already disturbing "Polly", a rawer version of "All Apologies", and a more subdued "About A Girl".
Mitch Michaels: This was actually the first Nirvana album I ever heard and I've been hooked ever since. The saddest thing about Kurt Cobain's death is that he never got a chance to follow-up on the amazing sound Nirvana uncovered on this live album. Many people will talk about the eerie funeral set, or the barely concealed misery in Kurt's vocals, but the treasure here (besides the fact that every song is great) is how Nirvana went from a band that, at times, seemed happy with just playing loud to a very serious group of musicians finding a way to make their loud songs work in a stripped down setting. And they succeeded.
The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
CHART HISTORY:
Album:
Pop: #10
Singles:
"Sloop John B" Pop: #3
"Wouldn't It Be Nice" Pop: #8
"Caroline, No" Pop: #32
"God Only Knows" Pop: #39
Berry: Best pop-rock album ever. By 1966, The Beach Boys were overlooked by the cool kids in favor of early psychedelic music and harder rocking bands like The Who and the Rolling Stones. Brian Wilson's masterpiece was, at most, a minor sales success thanks to the singles "Wouldn't It Be Nice" and "Sloop John B". On an artistic level, Wilson blurred the line between pop and art to create an orchestral work indebted heavily to the work of producer Phil Spector and The Beatles' Rubber Soul. During Pet Sounds, Wilson tells the story of a relationship he desperately wants to maintain but can't, for reasons only hinted at. The relationship might serve as a metaphor for Wilson's thoughts on his fans, mid-late 60's politics, or simply his own insecurities. It's widely known how much labor went into this album (The Beach Boys toured without Brian so he could perfect it) and the results are obvious on texturally complex tracks "You Still Believe In Me" (best song on the album, in my opinion), the Phil Spector-esque "I'm Waiting For the Day", and one of the greatest pop compositions ever, "God Only Knows". While the album says "Beach Boys" this is really a Brian Wilson solo album. He wrote all of the music and hired guest musicians to perform while the other Beach Boys merely added their distinctive voices to the mix.
Rutherford: If it wasn't for Brian Wilson and this album, The Beatles would never have been pushed as hard as what they were to produce something better. While not as across-the-board strong in terms of songs that The Beatles were Wilson matched them sonically and showed everyone the new way to create music where the sound match the songs. That's not to say there isn't some amazing song moments on here (Wouldn't It Be Nice and the amazing God Only Knows) and you probably wont find a better record of teenage love and heartbreak but this album is more about how it inspired others than the music itself and for that, it deserves it's place.
Mitch Michaels: In a way, Pet Sounds was the end of The Beach Boys, but what an end it was. Brian Wilson officially became a recluse during its recording, isolating himself from the band (he recorded the bulk of the album without them as they toured). This caused a rift between Brian and writing partner/frontman Mike Love that would never be fully mended. Fortunately, for all the bad blood, commercial failure and tragedy that would follow it, Pet Sounds remains a fitting tent pole in The Beach Boys' legacy, with enduring hits like "Wouldn't It Be Nice", "God Only Knows" and "Caroline, No" still sounding lush and inventive forty years later. This may not be The Beach Boys' biggest hit (it only reached #10 in the US and was the beginning of a long commercial fall for the once legendary surf group), but it's the album that will forever cement Brian Wilson's ingenious song-crafting ability and the beautiful harmonies that the band is known for.
The Beatles - The Beatles
CHART HISTORY:
Album:
Pop: #1
Singles:
"Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" Pop: #49
Helm: Though some may demean the legacy of The Beatles, their ability to craft finely honed music especially while still taking artistic chances cannot be denied. Never is this dichotomy more evident than on their groundbreaking double album, The Beatles. Also known, conveniently, as the "White Album," The Beatles features some of the band's greatest hits and works, such as "Back In The U.S.S.R.", "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da", and "Helter Skelter." In addition, this is also the first album where The Beatles split from being a whole and instead showed off the talents of the constituent parts, from the pop stylings of Paul McCartney ("Blackbird") to the innovation of John Lennon ("Revolution No. 9") to the rock mastery of George Harrison ("While My Guitar Gently Weeps") to the always steadfast Ringo Starr ("Don't Pass Me By"). If anything, The Beatles proves, nearly beyond the shadow of a doubt, that the sum of The Beatles' parts is just as great as the whole.
Rutherford: As a dyed in the wool Beatles slut, I pretty much love everything they do but sometimes this album is a lot of hard work. What should have been single album was a double because four men couldn't put ego aside, so we get the ultimate ego album. That's not to say it doesn't have moments of sheer brilliance but you have to get past songs that would never have seen the light of day a few years before (Continuing Story of Buffalo Bill and Rocky Raccoon I'm looking at you) but any album that contains Happiness is a Warm Gun, While My Guitar Gentle Weeps, Dear Prudence, Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da, Yer Blues shit, I was about to name everything else! I don't think it should be this high in the 100 but it's an album worthy of greatness.
Mitch Michaels: Listening to "The White Album", it's little wonder that The Beatles were broken up just a couple of years later. The songs on this record couldn't be more unlike each other, making for an album so maddening and disjointed that it could pass for some kind of rarities compilation. The key is, all of these songs are so well fleshed out, such MASTERPIECES (and yes, I said it), that, when played together, you can't help but call it one of the greatest compilations of all time. "Dear Prudence" is chilling, "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" is an absolute classic and McCartney's silly tracks like "Ob-La-Do, Ob-La-Da" and "Rocky Raccoon" are wonderfully fun. Heck, even Ringo got a song on this set, making it quite possibly the most collaborative Beatles album ever, despite the obvious fact that no one was on the same page. Whatever the state of the band, there was a reason the "record" button stayed "on" at Abbey Road in the late 60's.
Credits
Creator / Host:Tim O'Sullivan
Sub Editors:Mitch Michaels and Brian Berry
List Counters:Tim O'Sullivan and Brian Berry
Disc Artwork:Scott Rutherford
Design and Production:Mitch Michaels
Writers who contributed lists: Tim O'Sullivan, Brian Berry, Scott Rutherford, Leonard Hayhurst, Tollah, Mitch Michaels, Morgan Marx, Ian Wright, Will Helm, Jared McGuckin, Frank Estrada, Matt Shoemaker, Scott Slimmer, Phil Watts Jnr, Dusty Godwin, Korry Hill, Jamie Buttineau, Marques Furumoto
Writers who contributed blurbs: Tim O'Sullivan, Scott Rutherford, Ian Wright, Will Helm, Mitch Michaels, Michael Melchor, Phil Watts, Jnr., Brian Berry
Matt Shoemaker, Tollah, Frank Estrada, Jason Chamberlain, Jesse Coy, Dan Marsicano, John Nagle
